From The TV IV

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CBHT is a Canadian local station in Halifax, Nova Scotia, owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and affiliated with CBC Television. It broadcasts on analog channel 3, with a digital channel allocation of 54 (not yet on air). It also has a semi-satellite, CBIT, which operates in Sydney, Nova Scotia on analog channel 5 and covers the Cape Breton region of that province.

[edit] History

CBHT began operations on December 20, 1954 as Halifax's first, and Nova Scotia's second (after CJCB-TV in Sydney), TV station. CBHT originally broadcast from temporary studios at the College Street School building with a temporary antenna. One of the first local shows produced by the station was a nightly news magazine show called Gazette, hosted by CBC radio personality Max Ferguson. CBHT expanded its reach through the Annapolis Valley, South Shore and central and eastern Nova Scotia in 1955 with the installation of a 100 kilowatt transmitter on Geiser's Hill.

CBHT relocated to their current studios on Bell Road in Halifax in October 1956. On November 16 that year, The Don Messer Show, which began as a local production (and later became Don Messer's Jubilee), debuted on CBHT. Other shows produced by the station, both for local airing and national broadcast, included City Reporter (a current affairs show), The Alibi Room (musical variety), Mrs. Byng's Boarders (drama) and sports programming. CBHT also became notable for utilizing local and regional musical talent for its programs, drawing loyal audiences with The Sounds of Jazz (a jazz program), Reflections (featuring light orchestral music) and Downeasters (a bluegrass music show), among other programs.

CBHT joined CBC Television's microwave network in 1958, allowing the station to air network shows the same day as in Toronto and Montreal. It also provided live coverage of the aftermath of the mining disaster in Springhill, Nova Scotia on October 23, 1958. CBHT's first rebroadcasters went on the air in Liverpool and Shelburne on November 24 to expand the station's coverage in Nova Scotia. In 1961, Don Messer's Jubilee (which first went national on CBC Television as a summer replacement show on August 7, 1959 and was produced at CBHT throughout its run) became the most watched show on Canadian television, and CBHT also debuted the nationally-televised summer replacement Singalong Jubilee, which launched the careers of Anne Murray, John Allan Cameron and other musicians who performed on the show, which ran until 1974.

With the arrival of color television in Canada in September 1966, CBHT began airing network shows in color and produced its first local color program, Christmas Eve with Catherine Mackinnon, later that year. In 1970, the station began producing a Maritimes-oriented version of the documentary series Land and Sea (not to be confused with the original, local version of the show produced by and aired on CBNT in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador); the CBHT version of the show was broadcast regionally to other CBC stations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and later became a nationally-broadcast show. On September 26, 1972, CBHT put its semi-satellite CBIT on the air in Sydney, taking the CBC affiliation from CJCB (which switched to CTV the same day).

During the early 1980s, CBHT used the brand Maritimes CBC on air and in print. In 1981, CBHT began producing a local version of the CBC kids' and teen series Switchback, which aired on CBC-owned stations and affiliates throughout Atlantic Canada. The CBHT version of Switchback, like the original Vancouver version of the show (produced at CBUT), aired music videos by popular rock acts of the day, but it also aired Republic Pictures cliffhanger serials and episodes of the shows Batman and Get Smart and brought in notable personalities and sports stars for live interviews. The Halifax version of Switchback lasted until 1990, when it was cancelled due to budget cuts by the CBC and replaced with rebroadcasts of the imported British soap Coronation Street.

On January 1, 1986, CBHT rebranded on-air as CBC Halifax as part of CBC Television's on-air reimaging. Later in 1986, CBHT debuted the ensemble sketch comedy CODCO (featuring the Newfoundland-based comedy troupe of the same name), which later aired nationally on CBC Television in 1987 and ran until 1992. CBHT became one of the production centres for CBC Newsworld when the all-news channel launched in July 1989. The youth-oriented consumer and media awareness show Street Cents, produced by CBHT, debuted locally on the station in 1989 and went to the full CBC network in 1990, airing until its cancellation in 2006. CBHT continued being one of CBC Television's most active program producers outside of Toronto and Montreal, debuting the kids' series Theodore Tugboat for the network in 1992 and premiering This Hour Has 22 Minutes, a politically-focused comedy show aired in a mock news format, as a regionally-aired late-night program in 1993 before moving it to the network beginning with its second season.

In line with other CBC-owned stations in Canada, CBHT began using the generic CBC Television network branding in 2002. Due to budget cuts by the CBC over the years, local programming on CBHT is limited to the newscast CBC News: Nova Scotia at Six. It also previously aired Living Halifax (originally known as Living East), the regional version of CBC Television's Living regional lifestyles series franchise, until another round of budget cuts led to all Living programs ending production at the end of the 2008-2009 TV season.

[edit] Current Prime-Time Schedule

[edit] External Sites

• CBC Nova Scotia